[3.5]Improved monster classes: adapting creatures for player use-taking requests!

[Lyndworm]

Yay! They're like Yautja, but more awesome!

[Mystic Muse]

Yay! They're like Yautja, but more awesome!

What are yautja?

[Lyndworm]

The "Predator" aliens. I don't think that their name has been said in any of the movies, so don't feel bad for not knowing. I used their real name to see if anyone would catch it.

[Mystic Muse]

Ah.

Okay, Reseving this post for the Astral Stalker. It's still kind of in the design phase.

Does 6+intelligence modifier skill points per level sound like too much? Or even the 8 that outsiders are normally supposed to get?

[mrcarter11]

But the problem is, no creature is more awesome in terms of killing style then the yautja...

[Hyudra]

Ah.

Okay, Reseving this post for the Astral Stalker. It's still kind of in the design phase.

Does 6+intelligence modifier skill points per level sound like too much? Or even the 8 that outsiders are normally supposed to get?

Make a fresh post for the class when you're done. Don't know why you'd reserve a post.

6+int skill points sounds ok. 8 would be too much since with a mild int bonus you'd be able to take all class skills, removing any choice or player design from the process.

As it stands, if you consider the poison and the throat dart to be equipment, the Astral Stalker has:

• Claw attacks
• Camouflage
• DR X/magic
• Bonuses to tracking & evasion
• Scent
• Saving throw bonus
• Sneak attack

I'd consider building it like a slightly burlier, less-skillmonkeyish rogue. For the throat dart, I'd just say the Astral Stalker gets a single exotic weapon proficiency (ranged only) for free. That opens up stuff like bolas and freaky javelins and whatnot.

It looks like a fun class to make & not a hard class to put together, as it seems naturally inclined towards ability progression.

[NecroticPunch]

Hm... Could somebody do an Arcanaloch?

[Mystic Muse]

Sorry for the delay. I've been a bit stressed lately and will probably be stressed for a while longer.

I came to ask, what are racial ability modifiers defined as here? In the SRD they're defined as the +2 intelligence +2 Charisma and +2 Wisdom you get from becoming a Lich for example. While I don't really consider this out of line for the Lich template considering what you have to do to enter, it seems overpowered for half-celestial, Half dragon and half fiend considering their normal racial ability modifiers.

[Oslecamo]

Passed complex calculus and solid state physics double yay!

I came to ask, what are racial ability modifiers defined as here? In the SRD they're defined as the +2 intelligence +2 Charisma and +2 Wisdom you get from becoming a Lich for example. While I don't really consider this out of line for the Lich template considering what you have to do to enter, it seems overpowered for half-celestial, Half dragon and half fiend considering their normal racial ability modifiers.

Hmm, what exactly do you mean by that? The half-templates here give bonus much smaller than the original ones.

[Draken]

Sorry for the delay. I've been a bit stressed lately and will probably be stressed for a while longer.

I came to ask, what are racial ability modifiers defined as here? In the SRD they're defined as the +2 intelligence +2 Charisma and +2 Wisdom you get from becoming a Lich for example. While I don't really consider this out of line for the Lich template considering what you have to do to enter, it seems overpowered for half-celestial, Half dragon and half fiend considering their normal racial ability modifiers.

It's a judgement call.

For shorter classes you generally chose one or two ability scores that appear to be more prominent on the creature and give a bonus to those, said bonus will invariably be smaller than the original.

Creatures with higher CRs (and thus, class progressions with more levels) tend to add more scores to boost. Such is the case of the Dragons, the Balor and the Pit Fiend.

[NecroticPunch]

So does anyone wanna do Arcanaloch, or do I have to do it myself?

[flabort]

Passed complex calculus and solid state physics double yay!

Congrats!
I know pre calculus, and physics 30, in high school were difficult.

Those classes you took sound downright doomsday-difficult! good work.

[Mystic Muse]

Hmm, what exactly do you mean by that? The half-templates here give bonus much smaller than the original ones.

I'm aware but it says that they keep their racial ability modifiers. So, wouldn't that give the Lich +2 Intelligence, wisdom and Charisma?

[Oslecamo]

I'm aware but it says that they keep their racial ability modifiers. So, wouldn't that give the Lich +2 Intelligence, wisdom and Charisma?

Ah, that line refers to the racial modifiers of your original race, since lich and the half templates are suposed to be put over characters that already have a race. You don't get any bonus from the oficial lich template that aren't listed on this work.

[Mystic Muse]

Ah, that line refers to the racial modifiers of your original race, since lich and the half templates are suposed to be put over characters that already have a race. You don't get any bonus from the oficial lich template that aren't listed on this work.

Ah. Should this maybe be specified in the entries? It's given me trouble twice now.

[The-Mage-King]

Do you know what we need? An Ulitharid (Lords of Madness) monster class.

That'll be my most important request.

[Lyndworm]

Do you know what we need? An Ulitharid (Lords of Madness) monster class.

Is it Oolitharid or Yoolitharid?

[Gorgondantess]

Is it Oolitharid or Yoolitharid?

Oolitharid.

And I think the Oolitharid would work perfectly well as simply an expansion on the already-made illithid class; It's really just a dire illithid. Same basic stuff+large size, 2 more tentacles, better ability scores and some expanded psionics.
Beyond that, I was going to ask for the same thing myself.

[Draken]

Illithids keep acquiring more tentacle attacks as they level up, even in other classes. So an Ulitharid is simply an Illithid with another four class levels. Any four class levels.

Ok, four psion levels, not any four class levels.

[Gorgondantess]

Illithids keep acquiring more tentacle attacks as they level up, even in other classes. So an Ulitharid is simply an Illithid with another four class levels. Any four class levels.

Ok, four psion levels, not any four class levels.

Nahhh, but there's also the size to consider, and the expanded natural psionic ability, and the better ability scores.

[EdroGrimshell]

I would like to request a Daelkyr monster class

[flabort]

You know what? I'm getting bored. (Summer, you know?)

I think I might make a golem class.

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No, not any one golem:
several golems.

Start at flesh (CR 7, so yah, flesh at first), go to clay (CR 10), Stone (CR 11), iron (CR 13), I'll skip over "Great stone" (CR 16, but skip), and end up with either Mithral (CR 21) or addamantium (CR 25).

Flesh: 1-5
Clay: 6-10
stone: 11-15
iron: 16-19
Mithral OR addamantium: 20+
not exactly following CR=CL, but close enough. close enough. To make things more interesting, add the ability to opt out of changing types at certain levels (could be done the normal way by stopping taking golem levels, but meh)? Making type changes into feats (A bit too warforged sounding)? Making alternate type change trees?

Great stone AFTER iron doesn't make thematic sense, if you were wondering

If stats for more could be PMed, (yes, I know not all of them are OGL), I could do more golems than just whats on the online material.

does d10 Hit dice, growth every 6 levels, all Poor (1/3rd?) saves, full BaB, and, of course, construct traits sound right?
20 levels, with addy or mithral as cap-stone?

Although I imagine it would have several dead levels.... Bonus feats? no...

Actually......
Never mind. too big of a project for one person. tossing it to the crowd. good brainstorming, though, incase anyone wants to take it.

[Oslecamo]

For the record, diferent golems should NOT be made into a single class as much as the diferent giants and dragons are diferent classes despite their similarities. Each golem has it's own nature and powers. They'll share stuff in common like high str, DR, magic immunity and stuff but they don't "evolve" into each other.

On the other hand, as constructs yes they don't get any good saves, weak Bab and no class skills.

[sigurd]

A Golem class seems like a strange thing. The constructs don't have a sense of self unless they are awakened or something. Most of the time they leave the creation table or whatever with everything they're going to get.

When would a class come into play?

[Oslecamo]

When would a class come into play?

Well, the savage species does have the flesh golem class. We're not talking about your mass produced mindless golem but special cases that due by acident or other reason have a will of their own.

As for how they get stronger by killing stuff...Well, whatever reason you give for regular humanoids becoming stronger by killing stuff.

[Crafty Cultist]

I've been away a while but here is...

The Half-illithid

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Prerequisites
To become a Half Illithid, the character must meet the following requirements

Race: Any humanoid except human

Must have an illithid tadpole implanted in their head OR perform a ritual that requires live illithid tadpoles and 8 ranks in knowledge(psionics or dungeonering)

HD:d8
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|

+0

|

+0

|

+2

|

+2

|Flayer-touched body, Lesser cerebral power

2nd|

+1

|

+0

|

+3

|

+3

|Improved grab, Intermediate cerebral power, Psychic soul, Telepathy, +1 Int

3rd|

+2

|

+1

|

+3

|

+3

|Extract, Greater cerebral power, Mind blast, +1 Cha[/table]

Skills: 2+int mod. Class skills are Bluff, Concentration, Diplomancy, Hide, Intimidate, Knowledge(any), Listen, Move Silently, Psicraft, Sense Motive and Spot

Proficiencies: a Half-illithid gains no proficiencies

Features:

Flayer-touched body: Unlike other monster classes, the Half-Illithid doesn't lose its racial ability modifiers, but he does gain Abberation traits.

The Half-Illithid also gains a +1 bonus to natural armor and bonus power points equal to their HD

A half illithid also loses any bite attack it had but gains 2 tentacle attacks that deal 1d4 points of damage for a medium sized creature. with each additional level of half illithid gained, another tentacle is gained

Cerebral power: The Half-illithid gains psi-like abilities as shown on the table below. the save DCs for these powers is 10 + 1/2HD + charisma modifier

{table=head]HD required|Cerebral power required|Power|Uses per day

1|Lesser|Read Thoughts|1/day/HD
3|Lesser|Psionic Suggestion|1/day/HD
5|Lesser|Psionic Levitate|1/day/HD
7|Lesser|Psionic Charm|1/day/2HD
9|Intermediate|Dispel Psionics|1/day/2HD
11|Intermediate|Plane Shift|1/day/4HD
13Intermediate||Psionic Dominate|1/day/2HD
15|Greater|Psionic Dimension Door|1/day/2HD
17|Greater|Mind Probe|1/day/4HD
19|Greater|Ultrablast|1/day/4HD[/table]
If they multiclass to a psionic class they can count their Half-illithid levels as levels of that class for purposes of ML and for the purposes of learning new powers and gaining additional power points. So for example, a Half-illithid3 who took 1 level of psion could choose to have CL 4, get 2 new powers known and gain 6 power points. They would not gain the powers of a 3rd level psion however.

Improved grab: At second level, a Half-illithid that hits a creature of its own size or smaller with its tentacle attack, it deals normal damage and can attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it gets hold, it attaches the tentacle to the opponents head. After a successful grab the half-illithid can try to attach its remaining tentacles with a successful grapple check. the opponent can escape with a successful grapple or escape artist check, but the half-ilithid gets a +2 circumstance bonus for every tentacle that was attached at the start of the opponent's turn.

Psychic soul: A second level Half-illithid gains power resistance equal to its HD+11

Telepathy: Also at second level, a Half-illithid gains telepathy with a range of 10ft per HD

Extract: When a third level Half-illithid mantains its hold with all four tentacles for 1 full round, it automatically extracts the creature's brain at the beggining of its next turn, Instantly killing that creature.

Mind blast: A third level Half illithid can use its mind blast once per day per four HD. Anyone caught in 40ft cone must succeed a will save(DC10 + 1/2HD + Charisma modifier) or be stunned for 1d4 rounds.

Comments

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Here it is, the half-illithid. I used the same method as I did for the other half-breeds I made. I also made the class fully psionic and expanded the power list to include higher levels

Someone requested a daelkyr class. I'm tempted to do one but it might be a little big for me. I'll do Kaorti for now. hopefully that will help with any cravings to play a humanoid monster from the realm of insanity

[The Tygre]

Pics for the Half-Illithid;

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You all know my price...

[Crafty Cultist]

Thanks for the picture Tygre. now here is another one of my classes. I'm a little unsure about this one, so any feedback would be appreciated

The Kaorti

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Prerequisites
HD:d8
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|

+0

|

+0

|

+2

|

+2

|Body of madness, Warped arcana, Vile transformation, Material vulnerability, Twisted physiology[/table]

Skills: 4+int mod. Class skills are Concentration, Craft, Heal, Intimidate, Knowledge(arcana, the planes), Spellcraft, and Use Magic Device

Proficiencies: A Kaorti is proficient with all simple wepons as well as the ribon dagger

Features:

Body of madness: A Kaorti loses all other racial Traits, but gains outsider traits, a base speed of 30ft, bite attack dealing 1d6 points damage and is medium sized.

A Kaorti gains natural armour equal to its charisma bonus.

Warped Arcana(sp): Twice per day per HD, a Kaorti can duplicate one of the following spells with a caster level equal to the kaorti's HD; alter self, color spray, feather fall, ray of enfeeblement, reduce or spider climb. the save DC is 10 + 1/2HD + Charisma bonus. A Kaorti that takes levels in an arcane casting class gains a +1 bonus to caster level

Vile transformation: A Kaorti can lock its jaws around a willing or helpless creature in order to turn it into another Kaorti. After 8 hours, the creature must make a Fortitude save (DC 10+ 1/2HD+ Constitution modifier) or be corrupted by madness. A humanoid that fails instantly gains a level in Kaorti, but must wait for their XP to catch up before they continue leveling. A non-humanoid that fails its save becomes a Kaorti thrall, gaining the pseodonatural template.

The Kaorti can control Kaorti thralls, as long as the total hit dice of the thralls controled is no more than the Kaorti's own HD and the thralls have and intellegence score of 2 or lower. Uncontrolled thralls and any kaorti created are freindly to the kaorti, but are under no compulsion to obey their creator, and will generally head toward the nearest Kaorti cyst unless prevented.

Material vulnerability: A Kaorti outside of a protected area must make a fortitude save every hour(DC15+1 per previous check) or take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage and become fatigued. the fatigued condition lasts until the nonlethal damage is healed. If a kaorti is rendered unconsious by this damage, then they continue making hourly checks, but take lethal damage instead.

Twisted physiology: A Kaorti can manipulate its body structure, sacrificing strength for agility or mental power. By taking a penalty to strength, a Kaorti can gain a bonus to dexterity, intellegence or charisma equal to the penalty taken. The penalty taken by the kaorti cannot be greater than -4, but the bonus can be split among multiple abilities. The Kaorti can change the size of the penalty and the alocation of the bonuses by spending 8 hours in meditaion.

At 10HD, the penalty/bonus ratio becomes -1/+1.5. at 20HD it becomes -1/+2

Comments

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For the Kaorti, physical weakness is a defining characteristic, but the rule with these monster classes is no ability penalties, so the twisted physiology ability was born. Converting physical strength to agility or intellect doesn't make much sense, but Kaotri are by their very nature incomprehensable. The kaorti also lack combat ability, so I let them use their contolled thralls to give them guardians

Items

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Here are a few items homebrewed to help with a kaorti's material vulnerability. I guess they're the Kaorti equivalent of clothing and a sleeping bag.

Resin bindings: these thin strips of treated resin are wound around a kaorti's limbs and torso to provide protection against the material world. A kaorti wearing these bindings makes a save to resist nonlethal damage every two hours rather than every one, and gains a +2 circumstance bonus on their saving throw. Market price: 15gp, Weight: 5lb.

Kaorti cocoon: This two foot long ovoid is made of resin, alchemically treated for flexibility. it can be streched large enough for a kaorti to fit inside. While inside, a kaorti cannot move exept to leave the cocoon, but they are protected from the material plane. Market price: 12gp, Weight: 4lb.

Updates

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7/7/10: made it so only thralls of animal intellence or lower can be controlled.

[Mystic Muse]

So, the Lich template can be applied to any creature correct?

[Crafty Cultist]

Traditionally the lich template can only be appied to humanoids, but with lich-feinds and dracoliches showing up it seemed an unnessesary restriction. So yeah, I guess anything alive that meets the prerequisites can take the monster class